Basilisk Battloid

During the late stages of the Malcontent Uprisings, the UEF Army began diversifying its
environmental capabilities. A handful of their ground mecha were designed to be all-environment with many of the rest being specialized to certain terrains. The Basilisk, fielded in numbers in the Argentinian and North African Theaters, proved the need for mecha designed for desert warfare.

The results against the Zentraedi Malcontents showed this mecha to be more than capable. For a time there was a push to make the Basilisk the main MBR-Battloid of the Army of the Southern Cross. However, the Salamander retained its position due to a number of factors, not the least of which was the reduced price tag compared to the Basilisk.

More heavily armed and armored than the MBR-Salamander, the Basilisk carries a
significant spread of weapons only slightly less than that of the MBR-Spartan Destroid. This
increase in the weapons outload came at the cost of a reduced jump jet capacity, agility and
overall land speed. A major shortcoming of the Basilisk is that it was never produced in large numbers compared to the Salamander. Those fielded against the Robotech Masters suffered
grievous losses.

With the arrival of the Invid this mecha all but disappeared. There are a handful of
recorded instances of their use against the invaders.